Needle punching machine for making endless wers from hair or fibers

ABSTRACT

THE MACHINE COMPRISES MEANS FOR MOVING A WEB IN A PREDETERMINED DIRECTION OVER A PERFORATED TABLE SUPPORTING SAID WEB. TWO DEFLECTING ROLLERS HAVING EACH A ROUGH COVERING AND RESPECTIVELY DISPOSED BEFORE AND BEHIND THE TABLE IN SAID PREDETERMINED DIRECTION. TWO PART-CYLINDDRICAL COVER SHELLS HAVE A SMOOTH OUTSIDE SURFACE AND EXTEND EACH OVER PART OF THE PERIPHERY OF ONE OF SAID ROLLERS ON THE OUTSIDE OF SAID COVERING. EACH OF SAID SHELLS IS PIVOTED ON THE AXIS OF THE RESPECTIVE ROLLER.

,1 E. FEHRER 3,561,081

' NEEDLE PUNCHING,MA'CHINE FOR MAKING ENDLESS WEBS FROM HAIR OR FIBERS Filed Dec. 5. 1968 INVEN'I'OR. e e-s-r CeHR er f (M @Zkk United States Patent 3,561,081 NEEDLE PUNCHING MACHINE FOR MAKING ENDLESS WEBS FROM HAIR OR FIBERS Ernst Fehrer, Auf der Gugl 28, Linz, Austria Filed Dec. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 781,538 Claims priority, application Austria, Jan. 11, 1968, A 275/68 Int. Cl. D04h 18/00 U.S. Cl. 28-4 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The machine comprises means for moving a web in a predetermined direction over a perforated table supporting said web. Two deflecting rollers having each a rough covering and respectively disposed before and behind the table in said predetermined direction. Two part-cylindrical cover shells have a smooth outside surface and extend each over part of the periphery of one of said rollers on the outside of said covering. Each of said shells is pivoted on the axis of the respective roller.

Conventional needle punching machines comprise a needle beam, which is movable up and down in a machine frame, needle boards, which are secured to the needle beam and provided with a multiplicity of depending needles, a perforated stripper and a table, which is mounted in the machine frame and forms an also perforated support for the passing web or strip. Because the needles are provided with barbs, individual fibers or hairs are caught by the barbs as the needles penetrate into the web or strip and these caught fibers or hairs are pulled by the barbs through the web or strip so that an intimate felting of the material results. In known needle punching machines for making endless webs or strips, the web or strip moves downwardly at the delivery end and then under the perforated table back to the receiving end, and deflecting rollers having a rough covering are provided before and behind the perforated table, respectively, and serve to deflect the web or strip downwardly behind the table and upwardly and into a horizontal plane before the table and to tension the web or strip between the rollers. When the web or strip performs a plurality of revolutions, a web or strip will be obtained which has been needle-punched several times or consists of'a plurality of layers, which have been joined by needle punching. The fiber or hair fabric may be joined by needle punching to a suitable backing of woven fabric. Such endless webs or strips are used mainly for paper machines.

The finished endless web or strip can be removed from the needle punching machine only in that it is pulled off laterally, in a direction which is transverse to the direction of revolution and parallel to the axes of the deflecting rollers. Because the deflecting rollers have a rough covering to be able to tension the web or strip, it is very difiicult to detach the web or strip from the deflecting rollers. These difficulties increase with the width of the web or strip and the length of the needle. Endless webs or strips for paper machines are also referred to as needle-punched felts and may have a width of meters and more, a length of more than meters and a considerable weight of, e.g., 2 kilograms per square meter so that the handling of the felt is diflicult particularly owing to its weight. The previously known needle punching machines for making endless webs or strips have also the disadvantage that with finer woven fabric backings or other special conditions as to the material the fabric to be needle-punched adheres so well to the deflecting rollers that the web or the like does not depend freely from the deflecting rollers but is carired along by the rollers so that the angle of contact is increased. This is obviously undesirable.

It is an object of the invention to eliminate these disadvantages and to provide an apparatus which is simple in structure and facilitates the pulling of the finished endless webs or strips from the deflecting rollers and prevents the Web or strip from being carried along too far by the rotating rollers.

In an apparatus in a needle punching machine for making endless webs or strips from fibers or hair, in which machine the web or strip is guided before and behind a perforated table by respective deflecting rollers having a rough covering, the invention resides essentially in that each deflecting roller is provided with a cylindrical cover shell, which has a smooth surface, is pivotally adjustable about the axis of the roller and extends over part of the periphery of the roller, preferably over somewhat less than one-half of said periphery. When the needle punching operation has been terminated, the cover shells are pivotally moved to lift the web or strip from the deflecting rollers so that the web or strip lies no longer on the rough periphery of the roller but on the smooth surface of the cover shells, which present only a minimum frictional resistance to the pulling of the web or strip from the rollers so that such pulling is facilitated and is enabled in the case of webs or strips which are so 'wide and heavy that they could not be pulled from the rollers without such arrangement. As the web or strip revolves during the needle punching operation, the cover shells are in a position outside the arc of contact of the rollers so that the rough covering of the latter can become fully effective. This position of rest of the cover shells may be so selected and the cover shells may have such a peripheral extent that the longitudinal edges of the cover shells act also as strippers for detaching the Web or strip or the like from the deflecting rollers at the desired point.

To prevent a bending of the cover shells and a resulting damage to the rollers where wide websor strips are handled, so that the rollers and cover shells are very long, the cover shells consist of hollow bodies which are crescent-shaped in crosssection. Hydraulic or pneumatic piston-cylinder units may be provided for a pivotal movement of these hollow bodies.

The most important parts of a needle punching machine and the apparatus according to the invention are shown by way of example in a sectional view on the accompanying drawing.

A perforated stripper 2 is disposed over a perforated supporting table 1. A needle beam 3 is movable up and down and carries needle boards 4, in which a multiplicity of needles 5 provided with barbs are fixed in rows and columns. The needles 5 penetrate from above through the Web, strip or the like, which is moved between the perforated table and the stripper and which at the delivery end is deflected downwardly by a deflecting roller 6, then returned under the table to another deflecting roller 7 and by a conveyor 8 is fed once more to the needle punching apparatus proper.

Each of the two deflecting rollers 6, 7 is provided with a cylindrical cover shell 9 or 10, which consists of a hollow body that is crescent-shaped in cross-section and can be pivotally moved about the roller axis by a pistoncylinder unit 11 or 12. The cover shells 9, 10 extend around somewhat less than one-half of the periphery of the respective roller and have a smooth surface. When they are in the position shown in solid lines, the endless web or strip is raised from the deflecting rollers, which have a rough covering. In this position of the cover shells, the web or strip can easily be pulled off laterally in the direction of the axes of the rollers. During operation, the

cover shells 9, 10 are in the position which is shown in dash-dot lines and in which the web or strip lies on the rough periphery of the rollers whereas the lower longitudinal edges of the cover shell 9, 10 serve as strippers, which prevent the web or strip from being carried along by the roller too far as a result of a firm adhesion to the periphery of the roller. What is claimed is: 1. In a needle punching machine for making endless webs:

a perforated table for supporting a web, means for moving said web over said table in a predetermined direction, two defiecting rollers having each a rough covering and respectively disposed before and behind the table in said predetermined direction, and two part-cylindrical cover shells, each of which has a smooth outside surface and extends over part of the periphery of one of said rollers on the outside of said covering, each of said shells being pivoted on the axis of the respective roller.

2. A needle punching machine as set forth in claim 1, in which each of said cover shells extends over somewhat less than one-half of the periphery of the respective roller.

3. A needle punching machine as set forth in claim 1, in which each of said cover shells is hollow and crescentshaped in cross-section.

4. A needle punching machine as set forth in claim 1, which comprises piston-cylinder units connected to said cover shells and operable to pivotally move each of said cover shells about the axis of the respective roller.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,117,359 1/1964 OByrne 28--4 3,166,822 1/1965 Starkie 281.4 3,166,823 1/1965 Bernard 2872.2 3,216,082 11/1965 Goy 28-4X 3,305,910 2/1967 Clement 281.4

LOUIS K. RIMRODT, Primary Examiner 

